Watercolor Lessons

Watercolor Lessons:

Now I'm not going to write down on this page just like a note-book. As you can read these sorts of instructions in any art book now. 

I want to tell you how I find watercolor personally, similar to what you may have found yourself in your journeys in art.

Watercolor being the main substance of water colour paints, means that its flow is going to be a bit unpredictable as it would when  using real water as a thinner.

 Though, you can use this unpredictability to your own advantage, and even make good of  it's mistakes. Just remember... you may recognize them as mistakes, yet they could also add to your paintings in a positive way.

In watercolor lessons you can blend water colour paints and water in such a way that other people will never know you might have done a mistake while doing the painting.

Here are some Watercolor Supplies for you to buy.

"It is my dream to create an art which is filled with balance, purity and calmness, freed from a subject matter that is disconcerting or too attention-seeking. In my paintings, I wish to create a spiritual remedy, similar to a comfortable armchair which provides rest from physical expectation for the spiritually working, the businessman as well as the artist". ~Henri Matisse

You can make watercolor paints very translucent in color. Now this can be a good thing, and can also go against you. Watercolor can make a painting seem like a dream in which the light, almost carefree way,  its colors lay upon the a surface.

Giving the effect as though you were looking right through the water color paints onto the paper surface beneath.

Almost like a filter that you might use on a camera when you want to change the color tone of your whole photos.

With watercolors, you can create a painting just with one color of paint all on its own.

And by layering different consistencies of this watercolor, you can add: shape, texture and balance to your painting.

 You decide how much water you want to add to your paint, in this way you can have free flowing paint that you can literally just move your piece of paper around, letting the paint flow over the paper freely, making different patterns as it runs.

I think that experimentation, especially with watercolor, is all work with this paint. And once mastered, there can be no limits to what you could do given time and patience.

Layering is also another way of  different toned colors together in watercolor lessons. From using paints mixed with lots of water, gradually lessoning the water in the paint till you end up with a stronger color. To the point of almost dry brushing ( if you can dry brush with water paint) anyway...  you get the idea!

You can see by some some examples of watercolor lessons above that the use of color mixing, either with one color or more than one color.

This blending of colures look so natural. After all..... you are really just mixing two lots of water together with different color tints. An You let the water do the rest

The use of materials other than brushes is encouraged. The use of sponges, by dipping the sponge into one paint color or even two. You can see how these techniques work out in the photo above.

In watercolor lessons, the use of salt... yes salt! By sprinkling salt on the surface of  your water color paints, starts off a reaction,  depending on how much salt you use - the more of an effect you will get. See below how this painting has had salt sprinkled onto it and the effect that is has given.

The effect is wonderful, and can become what ever you want it to be... just by the use of added salt.

A design such a this could become the pattern of a shrub, snow flakes, or even rain. Depending on how you wish to use it.

As I mentioned before, watercolor is a paint that takes on a life of its own. You can let these different effects take form in front of you, then decide how you are going to apply them to your painting

And as you progress in watercolor lessons, you will learn how to tame these effects while doing them, and incorporate them into your paintings.

Watercolor Papers

Different papers for watercolor can either be: thin, thick, ridged and smooth in appearance.

Depending on what sort of painting decide to do, just keep in mind that the thickness and materials of what the paper is made of, will also be the difference of how quickly the paper will soak up the watercolor paints and their drying time.

This is something your going to have to experiment with,  the less  water you mix in your colures, the least lightly your going to have runaway paint on your hands.

Watercolor & Ink

How about adding other mediums to watercolors, sure you can....

One I like the most when painting with water color is pen and ink.

 I find water color and ink are a great accompaniment to watercolor.

The crispness of the fine and also thick lines of the ink pen, and the opaqueness of watercolors are like putting opposites  together - yet when you do put them together on paper, they give you a clean striking painting.

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